Episode 1423: The Futures Game
Date August 29, 2019 Summary Ben Lindbergh and Sam Miller banter about whether they would take a time machine into baseball’s future, Yu Darvish’s midseason makeover and ability to pick up new pitches, then answer listener emails about whether the warning track should be widened, players having the second halves of Hall of Fame careers, and a robot ump challenge system, plus a Stat Blast about the most common stolen base totals for players with lengthy careers. Topics * Most common career stolen base total * Players with one career stolen base * Value of the warning track * Players with the second half of a Hall of Fame career * Hypothetical robot umpire challenge system Intro Matthew Sweet, "Time Machine" Outro Sleater-Kinney, "The Future is Here" Banter * Ben and Sam discuss Sam's recent article about which future baseball games he would time travel to. They disagree about traveling to see the end of Mike Trout's career, Ben thinks it would spoil the experience of watching him now. * They discuss whether they would be more or less interested in baseball if they knew when it would end. Sam says part of the reason he would want to see the end of MIke Trout's career is because he is worried about dying and not knowing how his favorite baseball storylines end. * Yu Darvish learned in a week how to throw a knuckle curve. * What makes pitchers able to learn new pitches so quickly? * The sadness of Mike Trout's future decline Email Questions * Dave: "In a Gleeman & the Geek Patreon episode, Aaron Gleeman interviewed Senior Vice President and General Manager Thad Levine. He asked Levine if there were any plans to keep Byron Buxton from injuring himself. Levine mentioned two things, one of which I found interesting. He said that they (presumably the Twins front office) have talked about adding extra padding to their walls and extending the width of the warning track at Target Field. The padding thing is boring, but extending the width of the warning track? Now I'm listening. An ESPN article by Doug Glanville from 2012 called "The warning track is useless" mentions that the warning track has no size restrictions and argues that ... well ... the warning track is useless. Without regulations, I can't help but wonder bad Jerry Seinfeld impression why not make the whole outfield out of the warning track? A completely dirt outfield would surely increase your home field advantage, you could stock up on ground ball pitchers and fly ball hitters and really lean into it. Unless outfielders sprinting and sliding on dirt would just hurt all of them. So what do y'all think. Do you have any hot warning track takes? Is it useless or could it help save Byron Buxton from injuring himself?" * Luis: "I was thinking about those Charlie Manuel Phillies teams, and remembered Raúl Ibáñez was said to have the second half of a HOF career. Is Nelson Cruz the current Raúl Ibáñez? Who are some other contenders?" * Zach:' "'If we want to preserve framing from robot umpires, why not just give each team a limited number of challenges per game? Let’s say nine per team and 1 each per extra inning. If the electronic strike zone can call pitches quickly then there’s no reason that it should take a long time to overturn calls. Let’s say you give the teams 10 seconds to challenge the pitch and then it takes another 10-15 seconds to see if the call was correct. If that timeframe can happen, it would allow some of the more egregious calls to be overridden but still keep most of the borderline ones and also allow catchers to be able to frame pitches and keep their impact on the game. What am I missing from this? Tennis is somewhat similar to this and it has worked out pretty well." Stat Blast * Sam looks to find the most common (mode) career stolen base total for players with at least 2,000 career plate appearances. * There are 28 players with 20 stolen bases during their career. This is the most common stolen base total. * Prior to his first stolen base this season Wilson Ramos held the record for most career plate appearances without a stolen base. * Sam then examines players with at least 2,000 plate appearances and only one stolen base. Notes * Yu Darvish currently has 8 different pitches listed with Brooks Baseball. * Ben and Sam name Ben Zobrist and Edwin Encarnacion as other players with the second half of a Hall of Fame career. * Sam doesn't like the idea of limiting challenges because it is an acknowledgement that there are incorrect calls but no desire to make sure they are all correct. Links * Effectively Wild Episode 1423: The Futures Game * The six must-see MLB games of the next 5,000 years by Sam Miller * What if Cody Bellinger is going to hit 763 home runs and we just don't know it yet? by Sam Miller * Darvish adds knuckle-curve to diverse repertoire by Jordan Bastian * Covering the Bases: Darvish edition by Jordan Bastian * The warning track is useless by Doug Glanville * Becoming the Boomstick: How Nelson Cruz Beat the Aging Curve to Become One of the Best Hitters in Baseball by Ben Lindbergh Category:Episodes Category:Email Episodes